Document management systems and methods

ABSTRACT

A method for managing documents in a computer implemented document management system, includes: creating a document profile that is associated with a document and includes fields of attributes of the document; and creating a link in the document profile to a file type that is not created within the document management system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/414,827, filed May 1, 2006, now allowed, whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/027,879, filedDec. 21, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,670, which is a continuationapplication of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/378,785, filed Aug.23, 1999, now abandoned, the disclosures of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for management ofdocuments and particularly, to systems and methods for management ofdocuments over a network of computers in which a user can gain access tothe information repository from a computer having access to the network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The ability to gain timely access to, important information on acomputer, and, more particularly, on a computer network, is a necessityin today's competitive market. As the number of digital documentscontinues to grow, such access will only gain in importance.

Document management systems automate document management on computernetworks and facilitate location and sharing of documents in workgroupswithout requiring knowledge of, for example, the DOS filename orphysical location of a document. A document management system may alsoprovide system administration functions by establishing criteria thatare used to, for example, determine storage location and/or determinedocument archival actions. Furthermore, security criteria can beassigned to limit unauthorized access to documents.

Document management systems typically store critical informationrequired to access a document in a document “profile.” The profile mayinclude document attributes or information about the document such asthe document type, the author, the creation date, the access rights,etc. The profile information is stored in a database and is used toretrieve the document via a search or query without the user having toremember, for example, the DOS filename and storage location (forexample, server\volume:directory\filename). Profiling thus providesquick access to documents.

In addition to locating documents from the information stored in thedocument profile, a number of document management systems also indexdocument text allowing users to perform full-text searches to finddocuments. Such full-text searches can require somewhat lengthy searchesin large databases.

Although a number of computer implemented document management programsor systems are currently available, it remains desirable to developimproved document management systems and methods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a computer implemented method formanaging documents including the steps of creating a document profilethat includes fields of attributes of a document and generating a uniqueidentifier corresponding to the document (that is, correspondingpreferably to the document profile and the associated document content).The unique identifier includes at least a first portion includinginformation descriptive of an attribute of the document and at least asecond portion including an automatically generated number. The methodpreferably further includes the step of storing the document profile forthe document. In one embodiment the first portion is descriptive of theauthor of the document. The second portion is preferably a sequentiallygenerated number that is unique for the first portion. That is, theremay be many documents having the same first portion (for example, theinitials of the author), but each document identifier having the firstportion preferably has a unique number for the first portion.

The present invention also provides a computer implemented method formanaging documents including the steps of creating a document profileand selecting a predefined document template for the document duringcreation of the document profile. The document template defines theformat of the document. Preferably, the document profile is storedbefore any information is entered into a content of the document.

The present invention also provides a computer implemented method formanaging documents including the steps of creating a document profileand linking the document profile to a file type that is not createdwithin the document management system. As used herein, the phrase filetype refers to generally any stored information that can be read or usedby an associated software application. The file type may, for example,be a word processing document, a spreadsheet document, a database record(for example, an email message) or a URL link. Selecting the link fromthe document profile preferably launches or switches to the softwareapplication associated with the file type.

The present invention also provides a method for managing documentsincluding the steps of creating a document profile, storing the documentprofile, and creating an email message including a link to the documentprofile so that a recipient of the message can access the documentassociated with the document profile. Preferably, the email message iscreated from within the document management system. That is, the user ofthe document management system can create the email without having toexit the document management system and switch to an email program.

The present invention also provides a method for managing documentsincluding the steps of creating a document profile, storing the documentprofile, and creating an email message including a copy of the documentfrom within the document management system so that a recipient of themessage can access the copy of the document.

The present invention also provides a method for managing documentsincluding the step of defining user access permission for a documentprofile or an associated document content in the document profile. Thestep of defining user access permission preferably includes the stepacquiring the identity of the user from a source external to thedocument management system. The source of the identity of the user may,for example, be an operating system security system or a databasesecurity system.

The present invention also provides a method for managing documentsincluding the steps of creating at least one document profile thatincludes fields of attributes of an associated document content andstoring the document profile in a database. The method also includes thesteps of storing the document content external to the database in a filesystem of a first storage device and replicating the document contentfrom the first storage device to a second storage device.

As clear to one skilled in the art, any two or more of theabove-identified methods of the present invention can be practiced in asingle document management system. The present invention also provides amachine readable medium having stored thereon data representingsequencing of instructions for carrying out the above methods, which,when executed by a computer system (as known in the art), cause thecomputer system to perform the steps of the method(s).

The present invention also provides a computer implemented documentmanagement system including a module to create a document profile to bestored in a database in the storage device and, for example, a module togenerate a unique identifier for the document. The unique identifierpreferably includes at least a first portion including informationdescriptive of an attribute of the document and at least a secondportion including a number generated by the unique identifier generationmodule.

The document profile creation module preferably further includes amodule to select a predefined document template for the document duringcreation of the document profile. The document profile creation modulepreferably also includes a module to link the document profile to a filetype that is not created within the document management system on anexisting document profile.

The document management system preferably further includes a module tolink an email message having a link to the document profile so that arecipient of the message can access the document associated with thedocument profile. The document management system also preferablyincludes a module to email a message comprising a copy of the documentfrom within the document management system so that a recipient of themessage can access the copy of the document.

The document management system preferably further includes a module todefine user access permission in the document profile by acquiring theidentity of the user from a source external to the document managementsystem.

The present invention and its attendant advantages will be furtherunderstood by reference to the following detailed description and theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a document including a document profile and documentcontent.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the structure of a documentmanagement system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a network architecture suitable for use with thedocument management system of the present invention.

FIG. 4A illustrates a screen capture providing for full text indexing ofdocuments.

FIG. 4B illustrates a screen capture providing for searching capability.

FIG. 5A illustrates a screen capture of initiation of a process forsetting system variables.

FIG. 5B illustrates a screen capture of an information/variable queryduring setting of system variables.

FIG. 6A illustrates a screen capture of initiation of a process fordefining document templates.

FIG. 6B illustrates a screen capture of definition of a documenttemplate.

FIG. 7 illustrates a screen capture of an embodiment of a navigator ofthe document management system of the present invention.

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate an embodiment of a document profile screen foruse in the document management system of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides for management of documents over, forexample, a wide area network in which a user can gain access to theinformation repository from generally any computer having access to thenetwork. Preferably, access to the documents is enabled via either adedicated document management interface or via the use of a browser suchas Microsoft® Internet Explorer® or Netscape® Navigator®.

In the document management program or system of the present invention,each document 10 (see FIG. 1) preferably comprises two parts, a documentcontent 20 and a document profile 30. Document content 20 is the actualinformation contained within document 10 and can, for example, includeBLOB, text, graphics, video and/or audio information. Document profile30 includes attributes of the document including, for example, thetitle, the author, the office location, the document number, the type ofdocument, and the date created. Document content 20 and document profile30 may be stored together or separately.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a document management system of thepresent invention. In general, the document management system isexecuted by a computer 60 that includes a storage device 62 (forexample, a compact disk or a hard drive as known in the art) and aprocessing unit 64. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, an operating system 110and the document management system are both stored on a hard drive 62.

In this embodiment, operating system 110 includes a file system 120 thatmay contain document content 20 which are stored as individual files asknown in the art. File system 120 also contains a database 40 thatpreferably includes document profiles 30 associated with documentcontent 20 and security information. Preferably, document profile 30contains security settings for each of document profile 30 and acorresponding document content 20. A document profile 30 can, forexample, be made public so that is viewable/accessible by all users ofthe document management system. Access to document profile 30 can alsobe limited to a user or group(s) of users. Likewise, document content 20can be made public or private. In the case that a particular documentcontent 20′ is made private, document content 20′ is preferably storedas an object within database 40 rather than in file system 120 ofoperating system 110.

File system 120 is preferably a conventional computer-implemented filesystem such as provided, for example, in the Microsoft® Windows®operating system, the IBM® OS400 operating system, the UNIX® operatingsystem or the Apple® Macintosh® operating systems. Database 40 ispreferably a conventional structural information system storinginformation as a set of records and attributes or fields.

Security information 50 represents access control information todetermine whether a particular user has permission rights to access thedocument management system and document profiles 30 and/or documentcontents 20. Document manager 130 accesses document profile 30 anddocument content 20 and allows a client computer 140 access to document10 formed by the combination of document content 20 and document profile30 if permitted by security monitor 50 and the security informationwithin document profile 30.

As described above, operating system 100 may include, for example, theWindows operating system family (for example, Windows NT®, Windows 98®or Windows 95®). Operating system 100 preferably contains a conventionaloperating system security 160. System security 160 is built intoconventional operating system 100. For example, in the case of MicrosoftWindows NT, a built in security system is provided which requiresentrance of a password for a user to log into the system and therebygain access to files and to the network. Similarly, many otherconventional operating systems require a password or access code toallow a user operating client computer system 140 to log on. Preferably,operating system security 160 or another existing security feature (asprovided, for example in Lotus Domino® server) is used by documentmanager 130 of the present invention to identify users and accesspermissions of such users. In that regard, security manager 150 ofdocument manager 130 may connect to and operate in conjunction withoperating system security 160 or, for example, the CentralAdministration Address Book of Lotus Domino, to identify users who mayaccess the document management system as well as document profiles 30and document contents 20 thereof.

Other document management systems typically require an administrator tocreate users or user tokens within those document management systems.Using an existing user list such as provided in a Lotus address bookprevents duplicative labor and simplifies administration of the documentmanagement system. In use of the document management system of thepresent invention, a user is typically first required to log on to theoperating system as determined by operating system security 160. Theuser may also be required to log onto a particular server such as theLotus Domino server. A user permitted access to the document managementsystem as determined by security monitoring 150 may then use thedocument management system. Whether the user has access to a particulardocument profile 30 and corresponding document content 20, is determinedby security information established in document profile 30.

One embodiment of a network architecture 200 suitable for use with thedocument management system of the present invention is set forth in FIG.3. In this embodiment, a corporate network or intranet 210 comprises,for example, two servers 220 and 230 on a local area network 215 in amain office. A number of client computer systems (not shown) are alsopreferably connected to network 215. Network 210 is preferably connectedto another network 235 via a router 250 and a firewall 260. Network 235is an extranet comprising an extranet server 240. The term “extranet” isused herein to describe a shared secure repository of information thatis accessible from outside of intranet 210 (for example, over theInternet). Placing extranet server 240 on separate network 235 andisolating it from intranet 210 assists in protecting the networkresources of intranet 210.

As known in the art, firewall 260 comprises a system designed to preventunauthorized access to or from intranet 210. Firewall 260 can beimplemented in hardware or software, or in a combination of both.Firewall 260 prevents unauthorized Internet users from accessingintranet 210. All messages entering or leaving intranet 210 pass throughfirewall 260, which examines each message and blocks those that do notmeet specified security criteria.

Local area network 215 is preferably connected to other local areanetworks in the intranet via router 250. In FIG. 3, local area network215 is connected to one other local area network 270 in a branch officevia router 250 and branch office router 280 using, for example, framerelay protocol or asynchronous transfer mode (ATM).

Extranet 235 is preferably connected to the Internet via firewall 260and an Internet router 290 using, for example, frame relay or ATM.Internet router 290 may be connected to an Internet gateway 300 and aweb server, a DNS server, and a mail server 310 at an Internet ServiceProvider (ISP) to provided connection to the Internet.

In one embodiment discussed herein, the database architecture of thedocument management system of the present invention utilizes or is builtupon Lotus Domino® server, Lotus Notes® Application Development Toolsand Lotus® Script language. Other architectures are possible, however.Information regarding the use of these Lotus tools is provided, forexample, in Lotus Notes Application Development I and II, Release 5,Lotus Development Corporation (1999); Lotus Notes Programmer's Guide,Release 5, Lotus Development Corporation (1999); Lotus DominoAdministering the Domino System, Release 5, Lotus DevelopmentCorporation, (1999); Lotus Domino Managing Domino Databases, Release 5,Lotus Development Corporation (1999); and Lotus Domino Configuring theDomino Network, Release 5, Lotus Development Corporation (1999), thedisclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The Lotus Domino server family provides an integrated searching,indexing, messaging, intranet, extranet, and Internet applicationssoftware platform. Lotus Domino supports many differentservices/protocols including, for example, SMTP, MIME, S/MIME, SSL,POP3, IMAP4, LDAP, HTTP, HTML and SNMP.

Lotus Domino also facilitates access to information through a browser,making the information available to a user from anywhere via, forexample, the Internet. Web-based access through a browser isautomatically enabled by Lotus Domino without additional hardware orsoftware. A database created in a Domino environment is, therefore, abrowsable database. To access documents through the Internet in anenvironment other than Lotus Domino typically requires running anadditional server (for example, Microsoft IIS) and a knowledge of HTMLor Java to design an interface for a user to search or view the existingdocument database.

The integrated services of a Lotus Domino enterprise environment alsosimplify hardware requirements as compared to other architectures. Forexample, the hardware for the document management system of the presentinvention may comprise a single server to perform intranet/extranet andInternet- or web-based database functions with the use of Lotus Domino.Moreover, disaster recovery may, for example, be achieved through twoinherent redundancy features: (1) replication, which is a scheduledprocess and (2) clustering, which is a real-time process.

Other server/client environments typically require separatesoftware/hardware components to create full-text indexes and querycapabilities. The Lotus Domino environment does not require theseadditional components. Full-text indexes are built by turning on thefull-text index option inherent in Lotus Domino as illustrated in box350 of FIG. 4A. Query capabilities are provided through a standardsearch bar or query by example form as illustrated screen 360 of FIG.4B, which does not require the purchase of an SQL server.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, however, all thefunctionality provided by Lotus Domino is available using other servers.For example, Microsoft NT Server can be used in conjunction with anindexing server such as Verity® and a searching server such as MicrosoftSQL®. Internet applications can be provided by, for example, MicrosoftIIS server, which enables/facilitates web access when used in connectionwith, for example, an HTML or JAVA front-end program to access theback-end database.

Several system variables of the document management system of thepresent invention are preferably set by, for example, a networkadministrator during installation of the system. Preferably, theinstallation process includes answering a few queries or requests forinformation to set up system parameters through variables that define,for example, the location of document files and templates. The systemvariables setup process may be initiated by selecting Set SystemVariable from Actions menu 370 of screen 375 as illustrated in FIG. 5A.The answer to a first query preferably defines how an organizationdesires to store its documents as illustrated by query box 380 of screen385 in FIG. 5B. Several options are preferably provided. Documents may,for example, be stored by Author/Document Type, Client/Matter, orClient/Matter/Document Type. The answer to a second query preferablydefines the path where “public” document contents 20 are to be stored infile system 120. The answer to a third query preferably defines a mappeddrive to identify the path of the document storage. A template directoryand a mapped drive for the template directory are also preferablydefined by the network administrator in response to other queries.

Setting these variables enables an administrator and/or a user to selectany operating system/file system to store documents and templates.Documents and templates stored in file system 120 are preferably linkedto database 40 in a manner so that any operating system and/or mappeddrive can be used to store the documents and templates.

Unlike prior document management systems, the document management systemof the present invention preferably provides for replication of all datain database 40 as well as all document contents 20 or other documentmanagement system date stored externally from database 40 to a secondaryserver to provide for redundancy. Although some current documentmanagement systems allow storage of documents external to the databasethereof, these document management systems enable replication/redundancyof only documents and other data stored within the database. Preferably,the user/administrator of the document management system of the presentinvention is queried as to whether replication/redundancy is desiredduring the process of setting the system variables. Ifreplication/redundancy is desired, another query is preferably made toset the drive mapping and path of the secondary server on whichreplicated documents are to be stored.

Preferably, the replication process takes place during Profile-New,-Edit, -Copy and -Save functions. During any of these functions, thedocument management system of the present invention preferably checksfor the newest or most current version based on date and copies the mostnewest version to the replicated server. If for some reason thereplicated server is not available, the document management systempreferably marks the profile for replication to occur after thereplicated server is once again available.

Defining templates within a document management system is a anotherunique function of the document management system of the presentinvention. The system administrator or other person of the documentmanagement system of the present invention can set up templates based onsoftware application and a document type (for example, letter,memorandum, budget, etc.) under the create menu 90 as illustrated inscreen 392 of FIG. 6A. As illustrated in screen 393 of FIG. 6B, theadministrator can define, among other things, a template name in field394, a relative path for the template in field 395 and an applicationassociated with the template in field 396. Preferably, the administratoris provided with a menu for each choice as illustrated by applicationmenu 397 in FIG. 6B.

The user is thereby preferably presented with a pre-defined formatteddocument template that ensures compliance with company policy andconsistent formatting in generating documents. All templates may,include, for example, the company name/logo and a footer including aunique document identifier. The document template is preferably chosenby the user when completing document profile 30 and does not require theuser to first launch the associated application. Such templates arediscussed in further detail below.

Any number of parameters for organizing documents or identifyingdocuments can be included in the document management system. Forexample, lawyers typically identify particular tasks with a particularclient and a particular matter for that client. For example, the clientmay be NewCo, Inc. and the matter may the NewCo, Inc. vs. OldCo, Inc.litigation. Client/Matter definitions preferably comprise uniquealpha/numeric code and/or names. For example, the above client can berepresented by a unique client name (for example, “NewCo, Inc.” as wellas a unique client number (for example, 20001). Likewise, the matter canbe represented by a unique name (for example, “NewCo, Inc. vs. OldCo,Inc.”) as well as a unique number (for example, 00001). This informationcan be typed into the document management system manually (by selectingClient-Matter in Create menu 390) or be imported electronically (from,for example, an existing database such as a billing system or otherdocument management system) through, for example, an ASCIIimport/export.

A user or system administrator preferably also defines particularlibrary that, for example, includes an office location and a UniversalResource Locator (URL) associated to each office specifying the name ofthe server and the path of the document storage as defined above tofacilitate access to the database via the Internet.

FIG. 7 illustrates a screen capture showing a preferred embodiment of anavigator 300 of the document management system of the present inventionor panes. Navigator 300 is preferably divided into three sections. Afolder/view identifying pane 310 on the left side of navigator 300preferably includes graphical representations of folders fororganization of information and graphical representations for exhibitingpredefined views for illustrating information (for example, a list ofdocument profiles). In the embodiment of FIG. 7, for example, documentprofiles can be organized and viewed by author, by client-matter or bylibrary. Other views can be defined by the user or an administrator.Such views are preferably continually updated and an index built withevery newly created document. A second section of navigator 300comprises an action bar 320 with dynamic buttons as known in the art toenable the user to perform a task or function. A third section ofnavigator 300 is a view pane 330 in which a view chosen in folder/viewidentifying pane 310 is presented. In FIG. 7, the By Author view 340 hasbeen selected in folder/view identifying pane 310, and the documentprofiles are arranged by author in view pane 330. View pane 330preferably includes pre-defined field sort buttons 332, 334, 336 and 338which enable ascending or descending sort functions base on the fieldsor attributes below the view pane buttons. For example, the documentprofiles listed in FIG. 7 can be sorted by document number, library,date/time and document title or name using field sort buttons 332, 334,336 and 338, respectively. Below field sort buttons 332, 334, 336 and338 is a list of documents profiles that pertain to the selected view.

Action bar 320 may, for example, include a Document button 322 that whenpressed exhibits a drop down menu allowing a user to Edit, View, orPrint a document or documents corresponding to a selected (highlighted)document profile or profiles. A Profile button 324 is preferablyprovided to allow a user to Create, Copy, Edit, Print, or View aselected document profile via, for example, a drop down menu. A Mailbutton 326 is preferably provided to allow a user to mail a Link toDocument, to mail a Copy of Document, or to Switch to a mail program inNotes (or another application) via a pull down menu.

Choosing to mail a Link to Document enables the user to automatically,from within the document management system, create an email messageincluding a link to the profile record. The user is preferably switchedto an email program to mail the link. The recipient of the email messagecan work on/edit the database record from their mail system. Choosing tomail a Copy of Document copies the external file corresponding todocument content 20 from file system 120 to an email message.Preferably, the user is switched to the email program/system and to theemail with the selected document selected. The recipient of the emailmessage can edit the copy of the document. However, the document in thedatabase record will remain unchanged.

Choosing to Switch to Notes (or another application or functionality—forexample, Switch to Microsoft Outlook) serves a number of purposes. Forexample, it conveniently enables a user to switch to their mail,calendar or other features at any time while working in the documentmanagement system. It also operates with the Notes link field on thedocument profile screen which is described in connection with documentprofiles below.

Document profile 30 is a very important function of the documentmanagement system of the present invention. As described above, documentprofile 30 includes the key fields of information or attributes that auser utilizes to define an associated document content 20. A document 10can be located via text searching capabilities using the fields definedin associated document profile 30. An embodiment of a document profilescreen 400 is illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9.

Document profile screen 400 preferably appears as soon as a document iscreated so that document attribute fields (including a unique documentidentifier generated by the document management system) are establishedbefore the user enters data into document content 20.

Document profile 30 preferably includes any number of attribute fieldsto suitably identify/define associated document content 20. Like otherdocument management systems, a unique document identifier/number ispreferably generated by the document management system of the presentinvention. Unlike other document management systems, however, the uniquedocument identifier comprises a numeric portion 410 (see FIG. 5)generated by the document management system of the present invention andone or more information portions 420 (for example, prefix(es) and/orsuffix(es)) that assist in identifying documents by providinginformation about the document. For example, a preferably uniquedocument identifier prefix may comprise a user's initials (typicallyentered at log on—for example, John J. Doe would enter “JJD”). Thedocument identifier will thus comprise the user's initials followed by,for example, a number unique for that individual (preferably, asequential number generated by the document management system starting,for example, with the number one). For example, the first document ascreated by John J. Doe would have the document identifier jjd1. Thedocument identifier preferably appears in a document identifier/numberfield 405 on document profile screen 400. A user may, for example, berequired to enter the user's login initials when a document profile iscreated as illustrated by query box 408 of FIG. 8.

In this embodiment, a second user will have a document identifier prefixthat comprises the user's initials (typically entered at log on—forexample, Jane L. Smith would enter “JLS”). The document identifier forthe second user will thus comprise the second user's initials followedby a sequential number generated by the document management systemstarting with the number one. The first document created by Jane L.Smith would have the document identifier jls1, while the twenty-firstsuch document would have the document identifier jls21.

The unique document identifier of the present invention easilyidentifies how to locate a document without having to perform a search.A user can simply, for example, go directly to the By Author viewdiscussed above in connection with FIG. 7 and locate the documentcorresponding to the identifier jjd1 without a query-by-example searchthat is necessary with other document management systems. The sequentialnumber portion of the document identifier also serves as a productivitymeasure based on the number of documents a user generates. All otherdocument management systems require a report writer function to producethese types of statistics.

An office field 412 preferably identifies the location/library in whicha document is stored. Choices for office field 412 and several otherfields described below are preferably provided through a pull down menu.An author field 415 identifies the author of the document. As withoffice field 412, a pull down menu is preferably provided to allowselection of an author. The menu is, for example, preferably generatedusing the Central Administration Address Book that is utilized for otherLotus applications. As discussed above, there is only one place tomaintain a user list and the security associated with authentication inthis manner. Many other systems require the user to have separateaddress books (i.e. one for e-mail, one for the operating system, onefor document management, etc.).

A title field 422 is provided to enable the user to define a preferablydescriptive title for the document. A document type field 425 ispreferably provided and serves two purposes. First, document type field425 identifies the application software that is being requested. Second,the type/template of document generated is also identified. For example,the application may be indicated as Microsoft Word 97® and the documenttype may be indicated a “Letter,” which indicates that the user isselecting to create a letter using Microsoft Word 97. Moreover, asdiscussed above, a template is preferably associated with the type ofdocument (LETTER in this example) that has a unique set of formattinginstructions already in place for the creation of a document, providingimproved productivity and consistency. A pull down menu is preferablyprovided for selection of a document type.

A client name field 430 and a corresponding client number field 435 maybe provided with associated pull down menus. Likewise a matter namefield 440 and a corresponding matter number field 445 are preferablyprovided with associated pull down menus. The client identifier fields430 and 435 and the matter identifier fields 440 and 445 are preferablyrelated to each other in a parent/child relationship. Preferably, theclient identifier is the parent and the matter identifier is the child.Therefore, specific matter identifiers only appear based on the specificclient selected. As discussed above, these fields may be populated by anASCII imported file that is preferably updated periodically (forexample, daily), from, for example, a billing system or program using anagent program provided in the document management system of the presentinvention. The agent program preferably specifies the import scheduleand the action to be taken.

A security or restrict read access field 450 is preferably provided todefine document security. Preferably, only individual(s) and/or group(s)selected/displayed in security field 450 can see that the documentprofile exists. In general, other document management systems arelimited to defining groups or types of security. Likewise, a secondsecurity field 455 enables restriction access/editing privileges todocument content 20. If nothing is entered in security field 450 orsecurity field 455, document profile 30 and document content 20 will bepublic. As discussed above, the document management system of thepresent invention enables integration with the security system of, forexample, the Central Administration Address Book of Lotus Domino toidentify potential users and groups of users.

A comments field 460 is preferably provided to enable entrance ofunlimited comments to enhance full-text search capabilities.

An add. docs (additional documents) field 465 (for example, a rich textfiled) is preferably provided to enable any number of multiple documentsor any other file type (for example, document files, database records,or URL links) to be included on a single document profile. Otherdocument management system do not enable multiple documents to becontained on a single document profile. Additional document field 465enables a user to attach file types and links that are external to thedocument management system (that is, file types that were not createdwithin the document management system and that do not have an associatedprofile). Such documents may, for example, be related to the maindocument (that is, the document for which the document profile has beencreated). Other document management systems require the user to linkonly document profiles through a related document feature.

An email/other field 470 (preferably, a rich text field) enables theuser to link email messages (typically, a database record) and/or anyother type of database file, view, folder, calendar entry, to-do item,etc. to the document profile. No other document management system allowsfor this type of relationship/linking between the document profile ofthe document being created and other types of documents or files thatare associated with, for example, a matter and/or project. Otherdocument management systems require the user to organize separatedocument profiles into folders and do not allow for other, external filetypes to be linked to the document profile.

A create document button 475 is preferably provided on document profilescreen 400 to launch or invoke the application specified in type field425 and creates a file in the operating system based on the predefinedsystem variables that were selected by the administrator upon setup ofthe database. The document management system of the present invention isthe only document management system that automatically passes the uniquedocument identifier, the title and the author to the externalapplication upon document creation. Other document management systemsassign a temp file number and require the user to save the file and thenreturn to the document management system to obtain the unique documentidentifier.

Although optimized for 32-bit applications, the document managementsystem of the present invention is preferably not limited to 32-bitapplications. The document management system can preferably launch anytype of file format. A number of other document management systems donot allow 16-bit applications to be integrated into the system.

The details of four forms (Client/Matter, Document Profile, DocumentTemplate and Library) and script associated therewith of one embodimentof the present invention are set forth in the Appendix hereto.

Although the present invention has been described in detail inconnection with the above examples, it is to be understood that suchdetail is solely for that purpose and that variations can be made bythose skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of theinvention except as it may be limited by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for managing documents in a computerimplemented document management system, comprising: creating a documentprofile that is associated with a document within the documentmanagement system and includes fields of attributes of the document; andassociating one or more documents external to the document managementsystem with the document profile by creating a URL in the documentprofile containing an address to a file that does not have an associatedprofile in the document management system and is of a file type that isnot created within the document management system.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the file type is a word processing document, aspreadsheet document, a database record or a URL link.
 3. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the file type is an email record.
 4. The method of claim1 further comprising: creating a document profile that includes fieldsof attributes of a document for each of the documents; generating aunique identifier for each of the documents, the unique identifierincluding at least a first portion including information descriptive ofan attribute of the document and at least a second portion including anautomatically generated number, the unique identifier being visible tousers of the document management system and providing information aboutthe corresponding document to the users so that each of the documentscan be identified from the corresponding unique identifier among a groupincluding unique identifiers corresponding to other documents; andstoring the document profile for each of the documents.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the first portion includes information descriptive ofthe author of the document.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the secondportion is a sequentially generated number unique for the first portion.7. The method of claim 4 wherein the second portion is a sequentiallygenerated number unique for the first portion.
 8. The method of claim 4,wherein the unique identifier is generated before the document contentis entered.
 9. The method of claim 1 further comprising requiringselection of a predefined document template from a set of predefineddocument templates for the document during creation of the documentprofile, the document template defining the format of the document and asoftware application to use for generation of the document.
 10. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising creating an email message via amessaging system external to the document management system including alink to the document profile using a selector within the documentmanagement system so that a recipient of the message can access thedocument associated with the document profile if the recipient hasappropriate authorization to access the document associated with thedocument profile.
 11. The method of claim 1 further comprising creatingan email message via a messaging system external to the documentmanagement system including a copy of the document using a selectorwithin the document management system so that a recipient of the messagecan access the copy of the document.
 12. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising defining user access permission in the document profile,wherein the step of defining user access permission includes the stepacquiring the identity of the user from a source external to thedocument management system.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein thesource of the identity of the user is an operating system securitysystem or a database security system.
 14. A computer implementeddocument management system, the computer comprising a processing unitand a storage device, the document management system comprising: amodule to create a document profile that is associated with a documentwithin the document management system and includes fields of attributesof the document; and a module to associate one or more documentsexternal to the document management system with the document profile bycreating a URL in the document profile containing an address to filethat does not have an associated profile in the document managementsystem and is of a file type that is not created within the documentmanagement system.
 15. A method for managing documents in a computerimplemented document management system, comprising: creating a documentprofile that is associated with a document within the documentmanagement system and includes fields of attributes of the document; andassociating a document that does not have an associated profile in thedocument management system with the document profile by creating a URLin the document profile containing an address to a file external to thedocument management system and of a file type that is not created withinthe document management system.
 16. The method of claim 15 furthercomprising displaying the document profile and at least one URL to afile external to the document management system.